ALACHUA – The City of Alachua will be awarded a grant from the Children’s Trust of Alachua County. On Dec. 9, 2019, the City Commission unanimously authorized City Manager Adam Boukari to develop and submit a grant application to the Children's Trust of Alachua County. The application included funding for educational programs in after-school activities, tutoring services, summer enrichment and education services, and summer high school credit courses in music and science/technology. The Children's Trust considered 56 applications and funded applications at a 70 percent, 50 percent and 30 percent levels based upon ranking of the applications. The City of Alachua's application received the highest funding level award of 70 percent for a total award of $135,002. The Alachua program will be conducted at Legacy Park Multipurpose Center.

In June 2018, the City of Alachua solicited formal proposals from qualified vendors to provide engineering inspection services to assist in the expansion of the city’s electric system. The winning bid went to Jacobs, an electrical engineering firm. Jacobs will provide construction engineering inspection (CEI) services for the expansion of City electrical infrastructure with the construction of the Legacy Substation.

The inspection services are to verify that construction is performed in compliance with plans and specifications. This includes the monitoring of daily project progress and applicable reporting to the City. Jacobs will also be responsible for an engineer’s certification of compliance certifying the work performed by the construction contractor, so payments may be processed throughout the construction of the project. This bid was approved in January 2020 and the inspection services will cost $180,000, which has already been allocated in the FY 2020 City budget out of the Electric Fund.

In 2018 the City also entered into a contract with Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) on a solar power project, which includes three 74.5 MW utility-scale solar facilities located in Osceola and Orange counties. Alachua is one of several cities involved with the project with participation at a 9 MW entitlement. However, the project has experienced delays due to site conditions, which prevents the solar from going online in mid-2020 as expected.

FMPA has proposed an amendment to its purchase agreement with Poinsett Solar, LLC to extend the time frame for providing solar power. The amendment provides for additional time for development of the solar facility in consideration of reduced pricing, and provides for a 20-year term with no extensions. This project allows the City to invest in clean, renewable energy, decreasing environmental impacts, while at the same time providing a savings to the City's electric utility customers. It also allows the City to add solar energy as a new component in its electrical services which provides additional security to rate payers in the event natural gas or other traditional energy markets spike. The Commission approved the amendment to lengthen the time frame for gaining solar power from the project. Overall, the cost to the City on the total contract will be $2 million which will come from the city's Electric Fund budget.

The Commission also approved an application for funding assistance to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) - Office of Criminal Justice Grants. The JAG Program provides agencies the flexibility to prioritize and support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own local needs and conditions. This includes law enforcement programs; prosecutions and court programs; prevention and education programs; community corrections programs; drug treatment and enforcement programs; technology improvement programs; crime victim and witness programs; and mental health programs. The Alachua Police Department (ADP) submitted a request for the purchase of equipment of gun safes and tablets/laptops in the amount of $20,157. The funding request was approved, and the distribution of funds was agreed upon and approved unanimously.

In other business, the Commission had also considered an ordinance request at the previous meeting to amend the Official Zoning Atlas from Planned Unit Development (PUD) Alachua County designation to Industrial General (IG) City of Alachua designation on a 34.63 acre property at McGinley Industrial Park is located north of County Road 25A (Northwest 120^th Lane) and the CSX railroad and to the south of Northwest 128^th Lane. Several property owners within McGinley Industrial Park had jointly submitted an application to rezone the properties to place a zoning designation on the property that is consistent with the underlying Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation. The Commission approved the ordinance on the first reading and approved the second and final reading at this meeting on Feb. 24.

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Cont:      Alachua law enforcement receives funding

After school and summer credit programs offered

By RAY CARSON

Today Reporter

ALACHUA – The City of Alachua will be awarded a grant from the Children’s Trust of Alachua County. On Dec. 9, 2019, the City Commission unanimously authorized City Manager Adam Boukari to develop and submit a grant application to the Children's Trust of Alachua County. The application included funding for educational programs in after-school activities, tutoring services, summer enrichment and education services, and summer high school credit courses in music and science/technology. The Children's Trust considered 56 applications and funded applications at a 70 percent, 50 percent and 30 percent levels based upon ranking of the applications. The City of Alachua's application received the highest funding level award of 70 percent for a total award of $135,002. The Alachua program will be conducted at Legacy Park Multipurpose Center.

In June 2018, the City of Alachua solicited formal proposals from qualified vendors to provide engineering inspection services to assist in the expansion of the city’s electric system. The winning bid went to Jacobs, an electrical engineering firm. Jacobs will provide construction engineering inspection (CEI) services for the expansion of City electrical infrastructure with the construction of the Legacy Substation.

The inspection services are to verify that construction is performed in compliance with plans and specifications. This includes the monitoring of daily project progress and applicable reporting to the City. Jacobs will also be responsible for an engineer’s certification of compliance certifying the work performed by the construction contractor, so payments may be processed throughout the construction of the project. This bid was approved in January 2020 and the inspection services will cost $180,000, which has already been allocated in the FY 2020 City budget out of the Electric Fund.

In 2018 the City also entered into a contract with Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) on a solar power project, which includes three 74.5 MW utility-scale solar facilities located in Osceola and Orange counties. Alachua is one of several cities involved with the project with participation at a 9 MW entitlement. However, the project has experienced delays due to site conditions, which prevents the solar from going online in mid-2020 as expected.

FMPA has proposed an amendment to its purchase agreement with Poinsett Solar, LLC to extend the time frame for providing solar power. The amendment provides for additional time for development of the solar facility in consideration of reduced pricing, and provides for a 20-year term with no extensions. This project allows the City to invest in clean, renewable energy, decreasing environmental impacts, while at the same time providing a savings to the City's electric utility customers. It also allows the City to add solar energy as a new component in its electrical services which provides additional security to rate payers in the event natural gas or other traditional energy markets spike. The Commission approved the amendment to lengthen the time frame for gaining solar power from the project. Overall, the cost to the City on the total contract will be $2 million which will come from the city's Electric Fund budget.

The Commission also approved an application for funding assistance to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) - Office of Criminal Justice Grants. The JAG Program provides agencies the flexibility to prioritize and support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own local needs and conditions. This includes law enforcement programs; prosecutions and court programs; prevention and education programs; community corrections programs; drug treatment and enforcement programs; technology improvement programs; crime victim and witness programs; and mental health programs. The Alachua Police Department (ADP) submitted a request for the purchase of equipment of gun safes and tablets/laptops in the amount of $20,157. The funding request was approved, and the distribution of funds was agreed upon and approved unanimously.

In other business, the Commission had also considered an ordinance request at the previous meeting to amend the Official Zoning Atlas from Planned Unit Development (PUD) Alachua County designation to Industrial General (IG) City of Alachua designation on a 34.63 acre property at McGinley Industrial Park is located north of County Road 25A (Northwest 120^th Lane) and the CSX railroad and to the south of Northwest 128^th Lane. Several property owners within McGinley Industrial Park had jointly submitted an application to rezone the properties to place a zoning designation on the property that is consistent with the underlying Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation. The Commission approved the ordinance on the first reading and approved the second and final reading at this meeting on Feb. 24.

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Learn more about COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) from the Florida Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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ALACHUA – There was a special staff at Alachua's Mi Apa Restaurant on Feb. 19. The mayor, city commission members and city employees had a new job for the day serving food to customers at the poplar eatery.

They weren't changing careers, instead they were doing it as a fund raiser for cancer research as part of the Annual Relay for Life.

Mi Apa restaurant sponsors the “Stick a Fork In Cancer” day annually and the city employees raised $1,311 in a single day. The City of Alachua staff is one of 19 volunteer teams that help raise funds in advance of the Relay for Life event, which will be held on April 3 at the Hal Brady Recreation Complex. Combined, the 19 teams have already raised $21,098 in advance of the event with 39 fundraising days still to go.

Relay For Life is the signature fundraiser cancer walk for the American Cancer Society. Relay is staffed and coordinated by volunteers in more than 5,200 communities and 20 countries who give their time and effort taking action against cancer by funding research.

Relay For Life is a team-based fundraising cancer walk event where team members take turns walking around a track or designated path. Each event is 6-24 hours in length and each team is asked to have a member on the track at all times to signify that cancer never sleeps. Cancer patients don't stop fighting because they're tired, and the walkers want to symbolize their fight. Each team sets up a themed campsite at the event and continues their fundraising efforts by collecting donations for food, goods, games, and activities. This money will count toward their overall team fundraising goal. Many of the volunteers are cancer survivors in remission, family caregivers or those who have lost loved ones and walk in remembrance. The goal is to continue to fund research to eradicate cancer and to remember those who have lost the battle against a form of cancer.

The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 by 10 doctors and five laypeople in New York City. It was called the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). At that time, a cancer diagnosis meant near-certain death. Rarely mentioned in public, this disease was steeped in fear and denial. Doctors sometimes did not tell their patients they had cancer, and patients often did not tell their friends and families that they had been diagnosed with it. The Society’s founders knew they had to raise public awareness about cancer if progress was to be made against this disease. The society started by writing articles for popular magazines and professional journals; publishing a monthly bulletin of cancer information and recruiting doctors throughout the country to help educate the public.

In 1945, the ASCC was reorganized as the American Cancer Society. Philanthropist Mary Lasker and her colleagues helped to raise more than $4 million for the Society in 1946 – $1 million of which was used to establish and fund the Society’s groundbreaking research program. They also helped establish the link between cancer and smoking; demonstrated the effectiveness of the Pap test; developed cancer-fighting drugs; dramatically increased the cure rate for childhood leukemia and promoted the use of mammography to identify breast cancer. Since 1946, the American Cancer Society has invested more than $4.9 billion in research. The Society was instrumental in the development of the Surgeon General’s report on the link between smoking and cancer and pushed for the passage of the National Cancer Act in 1971.

The Relay for Life event began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, wanted to raise awareness of cancer and boost the income of his local cancer charity. He spent 24 hours circulating a track in Tacoma, Washington, and raised over $27,000. This event showed that one person really can make a difference. Since then, Relay For Life has become the largest fundraising event for cancer in the world. Celebrated by more than 4 million people in over 20 countries, this overnight event empowers and unites local communities to fight cancer.

In Alachua there is a series of events and fundraisers leading up to the actual walk. Besides each team separately finding ways to raise money and awareness, there is a Survivor Dinner on April 1 to honor the survivors who have battled cancer and their caregivers. Then, on the evening of April 3, volunteer teams and other community members will gather at the Hal Brady Recreation Complex. Each team, along with other organizations, including student groups from Santa Fe High School, will have a tent or area set up to help continue to raise money. Some will sell food or craft items, others will hold raffles or sponsor activities such as petting zoos or bike races. Each year there is also a dunking booth where local personalities and leaders will give people a chance to dump them in the water tank, with a donation for each try.

But the main focus is the walkers and survivors. At the end of the event, luminaries are lit around the walking path in memory of those who lost their battle. The goal of the Society and the Relay is to try and make sure that these lives were not lost in vain and that one day cancer will be eradicated.

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LAKE CITY – Fifteen miles east of Lake City, Florida, is Olustee, a small town bordering the Osceola National Forest. Usually it is a serene and quiet spot in a rural setting, but once a year on Presidents Day weekend in February, the stirring sounds of bugles and drums mix with the sharp sound of rifle fire and cannons booming. Thousands of reenactors and spectators assemble in the park to experience history and witness the recreated battle.

For the past 44 years, Olustee State Park has been home to a living history event that honors those who fought in the largest and bloodiest Civil War battle in Florida. Olustee State Park, is the state's first park and was dedicated in 1912. The annual event is one of the few reenactment events that is actually carried out on the same ground where the original took place. In the Battle of Olustee, over 10,000 soldiers fought, and in some cases died, 155 years ago.

On Feb. 20, 1864, Union forces marching across the state ran into an equal army of Confederates at the location of the present park. Florida had escaped much of the fighting that had decimated the country. The Union had launched several raids along the coast and had even captured Jacksonville and Key West, but they didn't control the interior.

Union General Truman Seymore landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming to disrupt the Confederate supply line. Florida produced much of the beef and salt supply, which was exported north to the Confederate army. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded toward Tallahassee, which was still under Confederate control. Against orders from his commander, Seymore planned to cut across the state to Tallahassee and cut off the supplies leaving Florida. Assuming he would face only partisans and local militia, Seymore and his 5,500 troops followed the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central rail line west toward Lake City.

But it was not just militia the Union would be facing. Confederate General Joseph Finnegan had assembled an opposing force of battle-seasoned Florida troops, supplemented by additional troops from Georgia. At Olustee Station, east of Lake City, the Union forces ran into Finnegan’s 5,400 men. Seymour made the mistake of assuming he was facing Florida militia units like he had previously routed with ease and committed his troops piecemeal into the battle. Fighting raged all afternoon. Twice the Confederates almost ran out of ammunition. The Union forces attacked, but were repulsed by barrages of rifle and cannon fire. Then, just as Finnegan committed the last of his reserves, the Union line broke and began to retreat. Finnegan did not exploit the retreat, allowing most of the fleeing Union forces to reach Jacksonville.

Union casualties were 203 killed, 1,152 wounded and 506 missing, a total of 1,861 men, which was about 34 percent of the Union forces. Confederate losses were lower, with 93 killed, 847 wounded and 6 missing, a total of 946 casualties in all, which was about 19 percent.

The ratio of Union casualties to the number of troops involved made this the second bloodiest battle of the war for the Union, with 265 casualties per 1,000 troops. It also ended Union attempts to take the state and cut the supply lines. At the end of the war, Tallahassee was the only Confederate capitol that had not been captured. Although the battle is relatively unknown to the general public, it was a defining moment in the history of Florida.

This park where so much violence and bloodshed happened on that single day in 1864 now rests peacefully among the pine forest of North Florida, except for that one weekend in February.

The event is much more than a portrayal of a battle. Reenactors portray not only soldiers of both sides, but civilians as well, educating the public as they walk through the campsites. Some reenactors provide music or medical scenarios, female reenactors teach about the woman's role both in the war and home life. The park service also provides lectures, often taught by reenactors, on many aspects of the Civil War and life in the 1860s, including an actor portraying Frederic Douglas to give the viewpoint and experiences of African Americans, both free and slave.

Lake City also marks the event with a two-day festival with artists, vendors and entertainers beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Saturday with the addition of a parade by the reenactors at 10:30 a.m. The town also sponsors a battle skirmish and naval reenactment of a battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac, at Lake Desoto in downtown Lake City. Although there was no naval engagement at the battle of Olustee, this is meant to portray the first engagement between two ironclad ships.

When Saturday evening comes and the spectators are gone, the camps at the park become a true step back in time. Reenactors relax in camp around a fire or go to a ball with a full orchestra. The only light is candlelight giving the night a warm glow, with the odor of smoke drifting from the campfires.

Then on Sunday, the Battle of Olustee is re-enacted on the same hallowed ground soldiers fought for over 150 years earlier. Long lines dressed in blue and gray meet in conflict, firing volleys and cannons before an audience of over 1,000 spectators. When the battle ends, all the reenactors assemble in long lines before the audience, no longer in conflict but mingled together, reunited as one nation, as a solitary bugle blows taps to honor those who died here so long ago.

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